Internal-combustion engine



1944. o. w. STABLER 2,357,031

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed llafch '7, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1944- D. w. STABLER INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed March '7, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 zrzszzbzen Patented Aug. 29, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,357,031 INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Dwight w; Stablcr, Venice, Calif. Application March 7, 1942, Serial No. 433,741 1 Claim. (Cl. 123-51) My invention has to do with internal combustion engines. In some of its more particular aspects, it relates to two cycle engines employing opposed pistons although of course my improvements are susceptible of use in other types of internal combustion engines.

Among the objects of my invention, I aim to provide an internal combustion engine having simple and effective. means for adjustably con trolling compression at the will of the operator. I am aware that various expedients have been attempted with the aim of accomplishing such control but. at least for the most part, those attempts have been impracticable in that the means employed were too complicated and inherently of a nature which would not withstand the stresses to which they would be subjectedin actual operation. In general, I accomplish this object by eccentric means, which means may be manually or otherwise adjusted to control the inward travel of the pistons into the cylinders during the compression stroke.

Another object is to provide a novel and efficient means of efficiently scavenging the cylinders without requiring valve means other than the pistons themselves.

Another object is the fulcruming of the rock lever of an engine at a point closer to one end than to the other for obtaining improved results.

Another object involves disposing pairs of cylinders in an inverted V-bank for reasons of efficiency.

Still further objects and advantages are inherent in my invention and how those as well as the objects hereinabove specifically enumerated are accomplished will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof, for which purposes I shall refer to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view with some parts shown in' elevation;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 is a medial section showing a variational form of my invention;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing a variational form of control; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing a further variational form.

Referring now to the drawings, the numeral 5 denotes a horizontally disposed elongated cylinder having a water jacket 6 therearound, the cylinder being suitably mounted atop a crank case composed of upper and lower sections 8; 8a respectively, secured together by bolts 9 extending through flanges 10, the top section 8 being secured to the cylinder block by flange II and bolts l2.

Slidably mounted in opposed relationship in the cylinder, I provide pistons I5, I51: to which connecting rods 16 are pivotally connected by wrist pins H, the pistons having the usual rings 18.

The crank shaft 20 is journalled at its ends in the crank case and is disposed at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, The outer ends of connecting rods 16 are pivotally connect ed respectively at 22 to the top ends of rock levers 25, 25a, respectively. To the lower ends of the respective rock levers, connecting rods 21 are pivotally connected at 28, said connecting rods being operably connected at their other ends to the cranks 29, 29a on the crank shaft.

The rock levers 25, 25a, respectively, are fulcrumed on eccentric portions 30 of shafts 3|, each shaft 3| being journalled at its ends in the crank case and extending parallel to the crank shaft, the journal means being the bosses 4| each presenting a shaft receiving hole 40. To the outer end of each of the shafts 3|, I secure a control lever which carries a spring pressed latch 36. This latch has a lower end portion 31 adapted to engage and disengage the recesses 38 in the arcuate locking member 39,

Through the cylinder wall adjacent its lefthand end I provide circumferentially spaced, elongated air inlet ports 45, through which air is admitted to the cylinder. I preferably maintain a constant pressure tending to inject air into the cylinder through these ports, as by use of a blower (not shown) of well-known construction. Ports are elongated so that they are gradually opened and closed by the piston. A fuel injection nozzle'M-i' of well-known construction communicates with the cylinder midway between its ends, the inlet end of the nozzle being in communication with a fuel source and fuel pump of well-known construction, not shown, the timing of the fuel injection being controlled by conventional cam shaft means, not shown, operatively connected to the crank shaft. Adjacent the opposite end of they cylinder I provide circumferentially spaced exhaust ports 41. While preferably my engine is operated as a 'Diesel type in which the fuel charge is fired by compression, it is within the purview of my invention to utilize a conventional spark plug for this purpose if desired.

The operation of the engine disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2 is as follows: In Fig. 1 the pistons are shown in their outermost position with both the fuel inlet ports 45 and the exhaust ports 41 uncovered. In this position the air under pressure enters through the ports 45 in a direction tangential to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder. As the pistons then begin their next compression stroke the inlet and exhaust ports are covered by the respective pistons and as the pistons near the end of their compression stroke the fuel charge is injected and fired by the compression. By means of the elongated air inlet ports I accom' plish a gradual inlet.

From the foregoing description it will be obvious that by rotation of the shafts 3| by means of the levers 35 the eccentrics 30 are rotated to adjust the fulcrum point of the rock levers and consequently the inward terminus of the compression stroke of the pistons is accordingly varied.

In the device of Fig. 3, I show two cylinders 50 disposed at angles of approximately 45 in a bank in the shape of an inverted V, The crank case is composed of three sections 5|, 5Ia and 5Ib. The cylinders are water-jacketed at 52 and each has a head 53 ported at 54 for the admission of air under pressure introduced through the intake manifold 55. Each of the ports 54 provides a valve seat 51 against which valve 58 is adapted to seat. Each valve stem 60 passes outwardly through the manifold 55 and carries "a disc 68 at its outer end. Between the disc and the manifold 55 a coil spring 85 is interposed to normally urge the valve 58 against its seat. The valve stems 68 are pressed inwardly to move the valves 58 off their seats by the crossed rocker arms 61 which are pivoted on spindle ea and are alternately actuated by the cam secured on the cam shaft II. Cam shaft H is rotated by means of a wheel I2 driven by a chain belt I5 from a wheel 13 secured on the crank shaft Id. The usual fuel injection nozzles 6| communicate with the inner ends of the cylinders, their inlet ends being in communication with the usual fuel source pump, not shown, controlled by a timing mechanism including conventional cams and cam shaft operatively connected to the crank shaft.

Circumferentially spaced exhaust ports I6 are provided through each cylinder wall at a point spraced inwardly from the inner end of the piston ll when the piston is in its outermost position. Each piston 11. is connected to one end of a rock lever 80 by means of a connecting rod 8| pivoted at 82, 83. Lower connecting rods 85 connect the lower ends of the rock levers 80 to the crank 86 on the crank shaft by pivotal connections 81, 88.

Rock levers 80 are pivotally mounted on the eccentric portions 90 of shafts 9| in the same manner as described in connection with the device of Figs. 1 and 2, with the exception of the fact that the bearing 94 for each eccentric portion 90 is provided through the rock lever at a point closer to the lower end of the rock lever than to the top end, so as to provide a relatively opening and closing of the air longer piston stroke and a relatively shorter throw on the crank 88.

While not shown in Fig. 3, it will be understood that I provide a control means for rotating shafts III to operate the eccentric portions 90 for the purpose of varying the piston stroke such as described in connection, with the device of Figs. 1 and 2.

In Fig. 3, the left-hand piston is shown at the end of its compression stroke and in the firing position, while the right-hand piston is at the end of its power stroke, in which position the air inlet valve 58 has opened to admit air which is preferably injected under pressure as by a, blower, the injected air charge forcing products of the previous combustion outwardly through the exhaust ports I6. As the right-hand piston begins its compression stroke from the position shown in Fig. 3, it will first, in conjunction with the oppositely moving air charge, positively compositively forced outwardly through the exhaust ports at the beginning of the next inward piston stroke before the compression begins.

By the construction described, the valve operating elements are kept lubricated by the oil vapors in the crank case and by disposing the cylinders In an inverted V-bank the valved ends are sufficiently adjacent each other to permit of a simple, efficient and compact valve operating mechanism as shown. As the respective pistons near the end of their compression strokes, a timed injection of fuel is made through the fuel nozzles 8|.

As shown in Fig. 4, by interconnecting the fulcrum shafts 30a, which present the eccentric portions as before described, b means of worms III on the worm shaft I0l meshing with worm gears I03 on shafts 30a and providing means such as the operating crank I02 for rotating the shaft IOI, the shafts 30a may be simultaneously and equally rotated to vary the fulcrum axis of the rock levers. 0

In Fig. 5, I show a further variational form of engine to which my compression adjustment may be adapted. Here I show a cylinder I ID of a four cycle type of I engine,'in which a piston III is slidably mounted. The piston is operatively connected to crank II5 of the crank shaft III by connecting rod I I1. The respective ends of the crank shaft are journalled oif center at III in a rotatable bearing II 9, the latter bearings being joumalled in the crank case. A gear I25 is seecured to each of the bearings I I9, which gears are rotatable to rotate the bearings by means of worms I26 on shafts I21, a, shaft I28, which has spiral-gears I29 at each of its ends meshing with spiral gears I35 on shafts I21 to simultaneously rotate shafts I21, and a manual operating crank I30. Thus as the operator rotates crank I 30 the gears I25 are simultaneously rotated, causing the bearings H9 to move the crank shaft axis towards or away from the cylinder head, thus effecting a compression adjustment.

The broad concept of my invention, as defined by the appended claim, of course may be carried out in structures varying from that herein specifically described, so that the details which I have hereinbefore employed to illustrate an adaptation of my invention are not to be taken as limitative.

I claim:

An internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder, a piston reciprocally mounted in the cylinder, a crank operatively connected to the piston, an exhaust port through the cylinder side wall in position to be alternately covered and uncovered by the piston during reciprocation of the latter, and means for injecting air under pressure into the cylinder while the exhaust port is uncovered, said exhaust port communicating with the cylinder at a point spaced inwardly thereof from the inner end of the piston when the latter is at the end of its outward stroke and being open at all times except when covered by the piston.

DWIGHT W. STABLER; 

